Earlier this week a woman brought an apple pie into the office to share with her co-workers. She had purchased the pie the day before at her church bake sale. I was standing right next to her and when she offered us the pie she said a little prayer of thanks, "Jesus, we thank you for this gift and glorify your name." It was a thoughtful gesture but I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the inclusion of the prayer. It was just a pie, after all. One she had paid for. It hadn't been personally delivered free of charge by the Angel, Gabriel.
Why was the prayer necessary? Why do they feel god/Jesus needs to be thanked for every meaningless, trivial thing?
"Jesus, thank you for being with me as I withdraw $20 from the ATM."
"Thank you Jesus for your protection as I powerwash my driveway."
"Praise be to Jesus for the safe return of my child from the cheerleading competition finals. Though they did not win, their 8th place finish was the will of God and for that we proclaim thy glory."
Is this really all god/Jesus has to do with all that cosmic might, minor tasks?
Despite my sinful heathen ways, I DID have a slice of the holy church pie and I believe I did detect an extra layer of divine flavor that only Jesus could have provided.
- Sgt. Spanky
Drop and give me 20
And maybe some little things that don't get their deserved attention:
I'm sure this is only a minuscule sampling of the things some of us could be giving thanks for.
Thank you Jesus for the pie and millions of starving children in the world.
Testify brother!
I don't think is was a praying for everything thing. For some reason Christians insist on praying before eating. It drives me nuts.
Prayer itself drives me nuts. It's people talking to themselves masquerading as something meaningful. You may as well be talking to a tree and calling it communing with nature except, wait, trees are real so it's still more reasonable than talking to nothing.
My idiot aunt once prayed that nobody would steal the car that her husband had left the keys in at the parking lot of the restaurant where they were eating. Right, children are going to bed hungry and there is all kinds of horror in the world but let's pray that your stupidity goes unnoticed. Morons, all of them.
My mom was the backbone of her little Presbyterian Church in Kentucky. She taught Sunday school, and called her class "The Encouragers." She was generous, kind and never prosthelytized or pushed anyone to believe. She served with love - and she baked the best pies you have ever tasted. She was an incredible cook - and when people ate what she had to offer, the love was baked right in. It wasn't God in that pie, or casserole, or batch of brownies. It was my Mom's love and devotion. My former husband was a chef, and he always said, "you can follow the recipe, but the main ingredient is love." That's what your comment reminded me of. And when we speak about believers, it can behoove us all to remember not to vilify them all. Your story reminds us of that very simple idea.
It is my belief that "believers" are either stupid or completely deluded and I have no patience with either.
@ReadyforaChange it is my belief that bigotry is the hallmark of idiots, and broad generalization the purview of tiny minds.
@skye724 Right...that's good, so tell that to the believers. This site is for confirmed agnostics and athiests, not people trying it on to see if it fits. Get over yourself hon.
@ReadyforaChange I'm not your "Hon." I will not be silenced. No matter if the site is for confirmed agnostics and atheists, it is still bigotry to lump any group of people together and call them all stupid and deluded. That's MY right to stand up and say so. You can get over YOURSELF if you think I'm going to NOT express my opinions and thoughts.